For the first time in Ohio, woman leaves church sanctuary a legal resident

Danae King The Columbus Dispatch

Saturday

Jan 26, 2019 at 1:22 PMJan 28, 2019 at 11:54 AM

A Mexican woman who had been living in sanctuary in a Northwest Side church since October walked out last week as a legal U.S. resident — a first in Ohio.

Angelica, a nickname given to the 41-year-old woman to protect her identity from people targeting her and her three children, left Just North United Church of Christ on Wednesday with her family after her attorneys, Liliana Vasquez and Inna Simakovsky, brought her the visa they'd received in the mail for her that day. Angelica got a U visa, granted to people who were victims of crime while in the United States and are helping law enforcement.

News of her visa triggered a flurry of tears, joyous screams and some jumping up and down at the Northwest Side church.

Join the conversation at Facebook.com/columbusdispatch and connect with us on Twitter @DispatchAlerts

"I was shrieking," said Dawn Leach, a congregant who has become close friends with Angelica. "I ran over and gave her a big hug. ... There was so much jubilation.

"It was this incredible spiritual transformation because it really made us think about our faith, it really made us think about what we believe in."

Five other people remain in sanctuary in Ohio, including two women in Columbus, said the Rev. Noel Andersen, a national grass-roots coordinator at Church World Service who tracks sanctuary cases in the country.

Read more: Columbus’ sanctuary churches say they have a long history of social justice, serving others

Though Angelica is the first person in Ohio to be able to leave sanctuary and stay legally in the country, Andersen said 10 others around the country did so in 2018. There are more than 45 public cases of people seeking sanctuary in churches in the country, he said earlier this month.

The visa is something Angelica has sought for more than four years, since her home was robbed and her husband held at gunpoint in their suburban Columbus home in 2013. Before that, she'd been pursuing other legal avenues to stay in the country to no avail since shortly after she illegally entered the country from Mexico more than 20 years ago.

“Congress enacted the U visa into law in order to strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies’ efforts in the investigation and prosecution of crimes," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Michael Bars said in an emailed statement. "The U visa not only helps protect legitimate victims of crime, but is a key tool in the work performed by law enforcement."

The visa was created by Congress when it passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in 2000, according to USCIS, and are capped at 10,000 per year.

There's a large U visa backlog, said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a bipartisan, nonprofit group. The backlog numbers nearly 130,000, and once approved, there is another backlog to get a green card, with the wait list at 24,000, Pierce said.

In 2017, 36,531 U visa applications were received by Immigration Services, and 10,031 were issued.

From October 2017 to July 2018, 27,096 applications were received and 9,915 were granted.

It's common for people to apply for the visa, be denied, and then appeal and have a visa granted, Pierce said, something she suspects is due to them not including the right information the first time around, which is similar to what happened to Angelica.

Angelica first sought sanctuary because her application was denied and she needed time to appeal. Pierce said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has told immigration attorneys that it will still deport undocumented immigrants while they file appeals.

"That makes the whole (policy change) especially dangerous for them," she said. "If any of these people are in vulnerable positions, this program isn't helping them because it takes so long."

Originally from Mexico, Angelica hadn't been in her West Side home with her family since late August, when she began to hide from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers under threat of deportation. She stayed in various homes locally because there wasn't a local church willing to house her.

She entered sanctuary at Just North on Oct. 29. Houses of worship are designated by an Obama-era immigration policy as “sensitive locations” where enforcement actions should be avoided, which is why Angelica and others seek sanctuary in them.

ICE didn't respond to requests for comment last week, citing the shutdown.

After Angelica entered sanctuary at Just North, Simakovsky Law took over her case and appealed the decision.

Now, Angelica is back at home with her three children and husband, who is a U.S. citizen. She can stay in the country with the visa for four years. In three years, she can apply for a green card. About five years after that, she can apply to become a citizen, said Simakovsky. Angelica plans to seek citizenship and knows it will take years.

There are two other people in sanctuary in Columbus, and both have been there longer than Angelica.

In September 2017, Edith Espinal was the first undocumented immigrant to enter sanctuary in Columbus at Columbus Mennonite Church on the North Side. Espinal, a 41-year-old mother of three originally from Mexico, eventually left the church but returned on Oct. 2 and has been there since.

Miriam Vargas, 41, originally from Honduras, entered First English Lutheran Church in Olde Towne East in June.

When she got the news on Wednesday, Angelica gathered all the people who had helped her, "Team Angelica," to celebrate, and made them tacos in the church kitchen. Though all involved are happy for Angelica, the parting is bittersweet, they said.

"I miss everyone," said Angelica, whose real name is withheld because she is a crime victim who has been targeted. "All the people there are so nice and they're lovely people. I'm grateful for all of them."

The church has been grateful for her presence as well, and leaders said the church won't stop its advocacy work in the sanctuary realm any time soon.

Church leaders nicknamed her "Angelica" — angelic in Spanish — when she arrived in October because she's their angel, said the Rev. Eric Williams, the church's pastor.

"Angelica really lived up to her name at North," he said. "She really was our North Church angel."

dking@dispatch.com

@DanaeKing

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.